CCTV Beijing, December 22 News (Reporter Bu Ye) The decoration is complicated, and if you are not careful, you may "overturn". Recently, a number of consumers reported to the central radio network that the bad things encountered after buying home building materials products in Red Star Macalline - delay in delivery, wrong goods, difficult after-sales, and even some unqualified merchants selling "three no" products.
In response to the problems reported by consumers, CCTV interviewed the staff of Red Star Macalline, the consumers involved and the lawyers, in order to solve the problem of rights protection in the process of home improvement consumption.
Consumer complaints continue to make it difficult for consumers to protect their rights
Recently, Mr. Zhang reported to the CNR's woodpecker consumer complaint platform that in September last year, when he bought flooring at the "Feimei Flooring" store in Beijing Red Star Macalline Supreme Mall, a staff member who claimed to be the store manager told Mr. Zhang that if he signed the contract and paid the full amount on the same day, he could return 15% of the commission given to the store by the manufacturer to the individual. Mr. Zhang then signed the contract and paid 35,174 yuan.
After the installation of the floor, Mr. Zhang asked for a rebate, but was refused. The staff member who previously claimed to be the store manager said, "XX said that there was a customer with a large area that day, so let me pretend to be the leader to give you the price." And bluntly said, "You are her customer, and it is useless to complain about me." Mr. Zhang approached Red Star Macalline Supreme Mall to negotiate a rebate plan, and the other party promised to come forward to solve the problem and let Mr. Zhang go home and wait for news, but there has been no progress so far.
"If the merchant tells me at the beginning that I can't get a discount, then I can make a purchase decision based on the actual situation, but the merchant feels cheated by 'acting' and other methods to promote sales. Mr. Zhang told CCTV.
Wang Qianqian, a lawyer at Beijing Weiheng Law Firm, believes that Mr. Zhang's acceptance of the merchant's commitment and final consumption led to the conclusion of a sales contract between the two parties. According to the relevant provisions of the Civil Code, the merchant shall be responsible for the behavior of the sales staff and the "store manager", and bear the corresponding consequences of the "commitment". Rebate promises may be considered fraudulent if they are identified as "principal payment sales".
Compared with Mr. Zhang, Mr. Liu's road to defending his rights is more difficult. In June and July this year, Mr. Liu delivered more than 70,000 yuan of the full amount of the wardrobe at the Red Star Macalline Sophia store in Huimin County, Binzhou City, Shandong Province, and the order status showed that it had been completed, but the delivery had not been delayed. When he went to the store in September to discuss a solution, he "found that the owner of the store had changed". Mr. Zhang asked Red Star Macalline for help, but was told, "It's the store's problem, and it has nothing to do with them." ”
In fact, it is not uncommon for Red Star Macalline to have difficulties in protecting its rights in shopping, and it is not uncommon for customers to complain about Red Star Macalline on a number of complaint platforms and social media platforms such as Weibo.
Regarding Red Star Macalline's management measures for the settled merchants and the handling of consumer complaints, CCTV contacted the customer service department and public relations department of Red Star Macalline headquarters, and there was no response to many inquiries.
The introduction of merchants to check the "loose" use of the warranty is a mystery
The reporter sorted out the consumer complaints of Red Star Macalline, mainly focusing on the sale of counterfeit and shoddy goods, refunds and after-sales difficulties after merchants withdraw stores, and refusal to return and exchange goods. After the reporter of CCTV asked the Red Star Macalline shopping malls in Beijing, Hebei, Zhejiang and other places and the consumers in the case, it was found that for consumer complaints and disputes, Red Star Macalline's reply was generally "brand personal behavior", "the mall did not know", "go home first and other news", and there were almost no substantive measures to help consumers solve the problem.
According to an investigation by a reporter from CCTV, Red Star Macalline's lax control of merchants is one of the reasons for a large number of consumer complaints. In addition, in terms of consumer rights and interests protection, according to consumer feedback, although Red Star Macalline has set up the so-called "warranty money" specifically to protect the rights and interests of consumers, in actual disputes, the "warranty money" rarely "shows up" to solve the problem.
According to the requirements of the merchants provided by the staff of Red Star Macalline, the settled dealers across the country need to provide 8 information, including the authorization letter, and sign a unified standard contract with Red Star Macalline, but a number of staff members responsible for franchise business said that "you can settle in by providing the authorization letter of the brand side of the product to be sold, and you must inform the shopping mall when you withdraw from the store."
Dealer settlement materials provided by Red Star Macalline staff (photo provided by the interviewee)
In terms of product quality control, a number of staff members responsible for joining the business told reporters that merchants do not need to provide product test reports for all products sold, and can provide test reports for representative products.
Under the "relaxed" entry policy, once the legitimate rights and interests of consumers are damaged, how to solve it?
It is reported that in order to protect the rights and interests of consumers, Red Star Macalline Shopping Mall will charge a certain amount of warranty money to the settled merchants to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. If a consumer rights protection incident occurs during the operation of the merchant or within three years after the lease is surrendered, it can be used to compensate the consumer.
The standard of payment of the warranty provided by Red Star Macalline (Photo provided by the interviewee)
However, many consumers who complained about Red Star Macalline reported to CCTV reporters that they did not know the existence of the warranty money, let alone how to apply for it. At the same time, when they reported the problems of the merchants to Red Star Macalline, Red Star Macalline did not tell them about the warranty.
Li Baofeng, a lawyer at Beijing Lunyu Law Firm, said that the merchant handed over a certain amount of funds to Red Star Macalline for temporary management, and once the merchant had a dispute with the consumer during the performance of the contract, Red Star Macalline should dispose of the warranty money as appropriate to make up for the consumer's loss.
A staff member of a Red Star Macalline store in Zhejiang told CCTV that his shopping mall has been open for four or five years, and "basically has not used the warranty money paid by the settled merchants". Another staff member in charge of Red Star Macalline's franchise business also said that "the warranty money will not be used generally".
What is the basis and scope of use of the warranty money? Why does the financial report not disclose the total amount and destination of the warranty money collected by Red Star Macalline? How is the warranty money paid by the merchant supervised? In response to the above many questions, CCTV interviewed Red Star Macalline and did not receive a reply.
High debt The company's performance has not improved
It is understood that there are currently two main business models of Red Star Macalline Shopping Mall - self-operation and entrusted management. Under the self-operated model, Red Star Macalline uniformly attracts foreign investment and collects leasing fees from settled merchants, which is mainly concentrated in first-tier and super first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Under the entrusted management model, the Red Star Macalline trademark is licensed to the operator, and consulting and management fees are charged to the operator, and this kind of shopping mall is mainly concentrated in second-, third- and fourth-tier cities.
According to the operating data of Red Star Macalline in the first three quarters, as of September 30, 2023, it operated 89 self-operated shopping malls and 278 commissioned shopping malls. In the first three quarters, no new self-operated shopping malls were opened, 3 shopping malls were closed, and 12 shopping malls were closed.
According to revenue data, in the first three quarters of 2023, Red Star Macalline's operating income was 8.675 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 17.25%, and the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was -561 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 142.53%.
In 2022, Red Star Macalline achieved operating income of 14.138 billion yuan, a decrease of 8.86% over the same period of the previous year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 749 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 63.43%.
On one side is sluggish revenue, and on the other side is high debt. According to the 2023 semi-annual report, the debt ratio of Red Star Macalline during the reporting period was 55.12%, and the debt ratio has been higher than 55% for five consecutive quarters, and the total debt amount has also remained high, reaching 69.686 billion yuan in the first half of the year.
In June this year, Xiamen state-owned enterprise C&D Co., Ltd. announced that it planned to pay 6.286 billion yuan in cash to Red Star Holdings to purchase 29.95% of the shares of Red Star Macalline held by it, with a corresponding price of 4.82 yuan per share. After the completion of the acquisition, the shareholding ratio of Red Star Holdings and persons acting in concert will be reduced from 54.85% to 24.9%, and C&D will become the controlling shareholder of Red Star Macalline.
However, C&D promised that it would not interfere with the operation of Red Star Macalline after the transaction was successful. After being "rescued" by state-owned enterprises, Red Star Macalline still needs to "save itself" in operation and management, and after the introduction of preferential rent and management fee reductions in the third quarter in an attempt to increase the occupancy rate, the decline in performance has not changed significantly. Industry insiders pointed out that perhaps Red Star Macalline needs to start from protecting the rights and interests of consumers and improving the management level to achieve "self-help".
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